1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for electroplating and, particularly, to a method for electroplating a shell with at least two unconnected shell portions that need to be electroplated.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, portable electronic devices (e.g., mobile phones and digital cameras) are desirably fashionable. Therefore, shells or enclosures of the portable electronic devices are often decorated using various kinds of surface treatment. An electroplating technology is typically implemented as a surface treatment technology to provide the shell with a metallic brightness so as to realize an aesthetic appearance.
Generally, some portions of the shells of the portable electronic devices are not connected together for sake of structural design. The unconnected portions are typically electroplated and are attached to the base of the shell by means of ultrasonic bonding technology or hot-melt (e.g. plastic welding) technology.
However, the above electroplating method includes a number of steps whereby each unconnected portion needs a separate procedure to apply the electroplating. Thus, the above multi-step electroplating method is costly and time consuming. In addition, the color and brightness of each unconnected portions can vary, potentially to a relatively great extent, so as to lead to an inconsistent overall coating. Thus, the desired aesthetic appearance of the body of the shell is necessarily not achieved.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for electroplating that can overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings.